Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Salmon with Wine Reduction Sauce

Last week, I was reading around the web on my iPhone RSS reader (thank goodness for it, by the way, or I would be SO BEHIND on my blog reading!) and I noticed a trend on macronutrients, Omega-3 and Omega-6 consumption and how to balance out what we eat. I had taken all that information in, and made the decision to try to get some sort of sea food once a week. But I have to admit, fish is a major cooking weakness of mine. I don’t really know how to cook it, and I only started to like it as an adult (the only fish around when I was little was canned tuna – no thanks now). I can do breaded trout well, but 1) no more breading for me; and 2) I only like trout when I just caught it, at most the day before, on my own fishing pole. There’s something just wrong about buying it from the store. I LOVE shrimp, but the guy is allergic and I only make it when he’s out of town to be nice (even though he wouldn’t react, it’s still mean to cook it while he’s home). So that leaves me with a new world of experimentation.
I figured I would start by asking my Grok Elder buddies (my Facebook group) if they had any suggestions. And of course, AndreAnna from Life As A Plate had a ton of suggestions. I decided to start with this: Crab-Stuffed Salmon Pinwheels With A Garlic Dill Cream Sauce and make some small changes. I didn’t want to add crab, for one thing, and I wanted to use up my spinach and artichokes from the dip I made earlier in the weekend. I did decide to try dill for the first time, and MAN am I glad I did. I was surprised how much I liked it!

Mine didn’t come out as pretty as AndreAnna’s, but I also was more worried about how good they tasted and less about how they looked. I might have over-stuffed them, too…. but the stuffing was sooooo good, so oh well! That’s why I’m not calling them pinwheels, but they tasted great so I’m happy.

Spinach Artichoke Stuffed Salmon

The Ingredients

1 salmon fillet – around 1 pound, with the skin removed

4 ounces cream cheese

5 ounces frozen spinach

1 can artichokes (hearts or bottoms)

1 tsp sea salt, and more to taste for the filling

1 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

The Hardware

a 9×9″ baking pan (I suggest glass if you have it)

a plastic cutting board and VERY sharp knife

2 glass bowls, one small and one large

a fine-mesh strainer

a large-spaded spatula

The Instructions

1. Add the cream cheese to the large bowl and microwave for around 30 seconds to soften it. Flip the oven onto 350 while you’re at it.

2. Put the spinach in the small bowl and microwave it until completely cooked. Set it into the strainer to remove as much liquid as you can.

3. Use your knife to dice the artichokes up into small chunks. Add to the cream cheese, and then add the seasonings (including salt to taste) and the spinach. Mix up completely using the spatula.

4. Lay the salmon onto the cutting board and use the 1 tsp of salt to season it. Flip it over.

5. Spread the cream cheese mix onto the salmon. Keep it fairly thin so that it can be rolled into a log, pinwheel style.

6. Use that REALLY sharp knife to cut the salmon into serving-size pieces, around 1 inch thick.

7. Lay each piece into the pan, sides touching. I got 8 slices from mine, and they fit in the pan just fine. You want the sides touching to keep them together.

8. Stuff the extra filling in between the salmon, making the “thin” layer into a thicker layer. If it pops up a little, or even mounds up over, that’s fine. This is what makes the dish a little less visually appealing, but it tastes amazing!

9. Now you’ll cover it with the sauce, whose construction will follow this bit.

10. Bake at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit for those who wonder) for 20 minutes. Let it sit a minute before serving carefully with a flat spatula and a spoon for the amazing sauce!

Garlic & Dill White Wine Reduction Sauce

The Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

1-2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped fine

2-8 cloves of garlic, minced fine (I love garlic, so I use a ton, but you might want less ;))

1 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup white wine – I suggest Chardonnay

1 cup heavy whipping cream

The Hardware

a saucepan

a whisk

The Instructions

1. Melt the butter on medium in the saucepan, and then add the dill, salt and garlic. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, until the garlic is softened.

2. Add the wine, and reduce to au sec (meaning until the wine is almost cooked out, or “nearly dry”). Use the whisk to stir the sauce every so often so it doesn’t burn. This will take about 10-20 minutes.

3. While whisking, add the heavy cream. It won’t curdle because it’s mostly fat, but you still don’t want to just dump it in. Make sure it’s mixed in well.

4. After letting the cream heat through, you’re ready to add it to whatever it will go on. In this case, our stuffed salmon…. but I suspect this would be amazing on almost any meat, before or after cooking.